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Help[Opinions] Opinions from anyone very familiar with Japanese names and their kanji readings
I have two teenage Japanese characters in my story, which is based around the late 1800's but in an alternate timeline:
One of them is a water elementalist, hence his name, Ukami Okino (海士 沖野). I'm worried his name reads way too literally (too many references to water) even though most of the other characters have somewhat unique and element-specific names, or that 'Okino' has a weird meaning I don't know about (and that it may sound too feminine).
The other one is his younger brother, Ukami Oyasu (海士 於保).
I realize both of their given names are commonly used as family names but I figured I could get away with it because of the time period and I've seen some examples of this happening with Japanese names before.
So what do you think? Are they passable given the circumstances?
One of them is a water elementalist, hence his name, Ukami Okino (海士 沖野). I'm worried his name reads way too literally (too many references to water) even though most of the other characters have somewhat unique and element-specific names, or that 'Okino' has a weird meaning I don't know about (and that it may sound too feminine).
The other one is his younger brother, Ukami Oyasu (海士 於保).
I realize both of their given names are commonly used as family names but I figured I could get away with it because of the time period and I've seen some examples of this happening with Japanese names before.
So what do you think? Are they passable given the circumstances?
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Regarding Okino, I think it does a bit too feminine as names ending in -no tend to be given to females, from what I can establish. Same with Oyasu for a different reason, that being the 'O' in Oyasu had been used as an honorific for female names (Haru, Chiyo, Tome, to name a few) in pre-war Japan (see https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/47053/what-is-this-archaic-female-honorific-form-called-and-what-relationship-does-it).
So, with that out of the way, here are my suggestions:
- For Okino, you're worried that his full name is too literal. My suggestion for this one is to keep the Oki sound but use a different kanji like 起 or 興 and definitely change the second element (some Oki- names I've found on passenger lists: 起光-Okimitsu, 興宜-Okiyoshi and 興寿-Okihisa).
- For Oyasu, I would recommend switching around the kanji and from there, use a different kanji, either one with an 'o' reading or one that has a two morae reading to kind of match up the naming style of the first suggestion.
EDIT: Now that I've had some more time to think, to me, it would be better if one (or maybe both) of the brothers have the -(no)suke ending (or any other endings that were carried over from their usage in the Edo Period) in their name, that would give more of the feeling that they were born in the late 19th century.
So, with that out of the way, here are my suggestions:
- For Okino, you're worried that his full name is too literal. My suggestion for this one is to keep the Oki sound but use a different kanji like 起 or 興 and definitely change the second element (some Oki- names I've found on passenger lists: 起光-Okimitsu, 興宜-Okiyoshi and 興寿-Okihisa).
- For Oyasu, I would recommend switching around the kanji and from there, use a different kanji, either one with an 'o' reading or one that has a two morae reading to kind of match up the naming style of the first suggestion.
EDIT: Now that I've had some more time to think, to me, it would be better if one (or maybe both) of the brothers have the -(no)suke ending (or any other endings that were carried over from their usage in the Edo Period) in their name, that would give more of the feeling that they were born in the late 19th century.
This message was edited 9/1/2018, 11:58 AM
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